Having had the pleasure of spending more time with my young folk over the summer months, it was quite revealing to me how pervasive social media is in their lives.  I think almost everyone I know (apart from my father!) uses social media to some degree but young people tend to use multiple platforms … [Read More...] about Are you Comfortable In your Skin?

At the time of writing, we are still on our family summer holiday.  With teenagers with acne-prone skin, this has led to problems with skin sensitivity to the sun due to concurrent retinoid use, mild sunburn 🥵(they no longer let me apply sunscreen on them or listen to my prompts to reapply 🙄 – I am … [Read More...] about Swimming and acne

Now I’m not a cosmetic dermatologist.  I deal with inflammatory skin conditions of the skin, hair and nails and skin lesions and that is my day-to-day.  But inevitably, we have to have some awareness of products that are put on the skin because we invariably recommend certain products in conditions … [Read More...] about Gene editing in the cosmetics industry

At this current point in time, there are no new drugs in the management of vitiligo 😔.  JAK inhibitors are around the corner, but they are still a fair way off coming to the UK and being prescribed in mainstream dermatology practice.   It was therefore interesting to read in the May … [Read More...] about Can an anti-Parkinson’s drug prevent vitiligo from developing?

I don’t know about you but one thing I found really frustrating in the pandemic (amongst other things!) was the inability to unlock my phone whilst wearing a face mask.  My dad, on the other hand, being a person slightly averse to new technologies has persisted with a phone with fingerprint … [Read More...] about How to get rid of your fingerprints

I have recently received the help of various medical and surgical colleagues (yes, doctors can fall ill too!) and aside from my general health issues, I found it interesting to hear their views on how the pandemic and these post-pandemic days are impacting on their clinical practice.   I … [Read More...] about Does losing weight improve skin conditions?

Ever since the children were little, we’ve generally gone on holidays which have involved chucking everything in the boot of the car and just driving until we reached our destination.  Initially the car was stuffed with car seats, potties and travel cots and obviously over the years this has changed … [Read More...] about Waxing lyrical about history

We all want to smell nice, that’s why there is such a massive perfume industry!  It adds that va va voom to your personal wardrobe, it makes a statement, it can even identify you as a unique individual.  Unfortunately, dermatologically approved products should never contain fragrance.  Anyone with a … [Read More...] about The pros and cons of fragrance

If the COVID pandemic has taught us one scientific thing, hopefully it is about the power of RNA based vaccines and their impact in diseases because of their shorter manufacturing times and their greater effectiveness.   It was interesting therefore to read of another use of RNA, namely … [Read More...] about A blood biomarker for acne scarring?

This is my last blog post for 2021 and one would have hoped that by now, we would be talking about something other than COVID-19.  I think we can all unanimously agree that 2020 was a bit of a write-off and certainly I know that a lot of my patients (and myself!) were hoping that 2021 would be the … [Read More...] about Patches, cups and Covid

At the time of writing this blog post, we are on holiday in Crete, enjoying a summer holiday we couldn’t have had during the school summer holidays. The little one got Covid but one month before we departed, the rest of us have been vaccinated and with the Fit to Fly’s all negative, we seem to have … [Read More...] about We are what we eat…

You would not have thought it possible, no?  Oranges are healthy, they are fruit, for goodness’ sake, and fruit’s good for you!  But actually, if you look at the science, the thought that oranges or more specifically, citrus fruit can increase your risk of skin cancer is … [Read More...] about Can oranges give you skin cancer?

My husband has two common conditions.  He has vitiligo which is relatively stable and been going for some years and he has developed some sort of hearing loss in recent years.  Now, the standard rigmarole is for him to say “Pardon?” with a perplexed expression whenever we mention it and which then … [Read More...] about Vitiligo and hearing loss…, pardon?

At the time of writing this blog, we are on our family holiday to Cumbria, opting for a UK based holiday because we’re both in professions where we can’t run the risk of us or the kids (not having been vaccinated) having to self isolate for 10 days upon our return.   Surprisingly, there … [Read More...] about Engine oil dermatitis

It was extremely interesting to read in the June edition of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology of something called narrative fallacy.   [Yesudian RI and Yesudian PD.  Case reports and narrative fallacies: the enigma of black swans in dermatology.  Clin Exp Dermatol 2021; 46: … [Read More...] about Black swans in Dermatology